The Current I: Kula Ring, Distant Islands & Tabu/Tapu

“What is the cultural significance of exchange between communities, cultures, and their environments? What happens when something is experienced collectively rather than individually? Where is knowledge embedded, and how can it be transmitted? 
Can it be owned? If so, how?”

 —Ute Meta Bauer

Drawing on themes of the collective body, the constitution of knowledge, and the significance of exchange, this cycle took as a point of departure the local tradition of the kula ring, a system of ceremonial gift exchanges practiced by several societies throughout the Trobriand Islands, building on the significance of reciprocity between communities and their surrounding environments. How are modalities of exchange negotiated between communities, cultures, and the environment? Spanning from ritual modes of exchange to nuclear tests and issues of marine protection, self-determination, community, and ownership, the first cycle of The Current questioned what it means to partake in matters that affect Oceanian communities. 

Participants of the cycle include Armin Linke, Nabil Ahmed, Newell Harry, Tue Greenfort, Atif Akin, Filipa Ramos, Lisa Rave, Laura Anderson Barbata, Joan Jonas, Amar Kanwar, and many others.

In parallel, the curator Cesar Garcia has initiated a cycle entitled Eppur Si Muove (2015) that consisted of an initial research trip to the Trobriand Islands, as well as the joint convening The Distant Islands (2016) in Kochi, India, curated alongside Ute Meta Bauer.